DWTS Pro Jenna Johnson Talks Social Media: ‘Hard for My Ego’

“Dancing With the Stars” professional dancer Jenna Johnson Chmerkovskiy has nearly 800,000 followers on Instagram, and she has learned to embrace the influencer lifestyle. It is not always easy for her, however.

Chmerkovskiy is a 27-year-old professional dancer, and she recalled being forced to get an Instagram account for “Dancing With the Stars” years ago in an interview with Observer.

“I just remember this funny, silly little app called Instagram,” she told the outlet. “They made us get accounts for the show, so we could post about voting. And I was like, this is so silly. Why do we need to do this?”

TikTok Blowing Up Was ‘Hard’ For Chmerkovskiy

As a professional dancer, Chmerkovskiy had a hard time when people were getting famous for dancing on TikTok.

“It was really hard, hard for me when TikTok blew up and these quote-unquote dancers were becoming famous or being viewed as the best dancers out there,” she told Observer. “It was really hard for my ego because they didn’t necessarily put in time into technique and going to the classes and giving up all this time.”

Since then, Chmerkovskiy has grown to embrace the TikTok trends. Her season 29 partner, JoJo Siwa, is a huge star on the platform, and that helped Johnson learn more about it.

“It definitely takes me out of my comfort zone,” she told the outlet. “JoJo would really be like, ‘Oh, this is a viral dance. We have to do it.’ And I’d be like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m gonna look like an idiot doing it, but let’s do it.'”

The most important thing to Johnson about her social media presence is to remain true to her career.

“Even on social media, I remain true to being a dancer with my content, whether it’s fitness or health or whatever, it all has to do with my work and what I do as a dancer,” she told Observer. “But it is pretty amazing in my offseason that I know that I can really focus on my social media platform and try as hard as I can to make a good revenue stream for myself in my offseason of Dancing With The Stars.”

Johnson Is Getting Back Into Contemporary Dance

In February 2020, Johnson posted a soulful routine, which featured Hayley Erbert and Makenzie Dustman, on her Instagram page alongside a lengthy caption. The routine was choreographed by the three women, who all shared it on their Instagram feeds.

The three women were all featured on season 10 of Fox’s show “So You Think You Can Dance,” which aired in 2005.

“This year my goal is to be my most creative self and to stop making excuses that keep me stuck in my comfort zone,” Johnson wrote in her post. “Part of that entails revisiting movement that I don’t get to do as often. For many years now I have been labeled ‘ballroom dancer’ which I hold so much pride in!! Buttt it’s caused me to convince myself that I am ONLY a ballroom dancer, when for so long I trained and loved other styles of dance just as much.”

She added, “Being able to move and create with these two beauties from my SYTYCD season 10 past made me feel like a giddy kid. I couldn’t stop smiling throughout the process and my soul felt nourished.”

“Dancing With the Stars” has not yet been renewed for season 31. If it does get renewed, the show will return sometime in mid-September 2022.

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